Re-run: 'Dude Ranch' or 'Forward Operating Base'?

The writer of the Red Bull Rising blog is still on family vacation maneuvers at an undisclosed training area, somewhere in the Middle West. This re-post from June 2014 seemed applicable:

Back in 2012, I wrote a post comparing and contrasting "Summer Camp"—what old citizen-soldiers in the National Guard still jokingly call annual military training—with "summer camping."

Recently, the Sherpa clan rounded up the extended family for a week's vacation in southeastern Arizona. Soon after getting boots on ground—faster than you can say "Huachuca"—I began to notice potential comparisons between daily life on a Dude Ranch, and that of living on a Forward Operating Base ("FOB") downrange.

In other words, I felt right at home.

Here are a few of my notes:

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LOCAL EATERIES

• If you are eating regularly in a "chow hall," you are on a Dude Ranch.

• If you are eating regularly in a "dining facility," you are on a FOB.

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INDIGINOUS FAUNA

• If you are on constant lookout for rattlesnakes, you are on a Dude Ranch.

• If you are on constant lookout for camel spiders, you are on a FOB.

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REQUIRED HEAD GEAR

• If you observe people who are playing cowboy wearing white Stetsons, you are on a Dude Ranch.

• If you observe people who are playing cowboy wearing black Stetsons, you are on a FOB.

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LITTLE PINK HOUSES

• If you are living in a pink building and shooting at tin cans, you are on a Dude Ranch.

• If you are working in a pink building and living in a tin can while other people shoot at you, you are on a FOB.

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BARREL ROLES

• If "clearing barrel" means executing a successful maneuver on horseback, you are on a Dude Ranch.

• If "clearing barrel" means a safety device into which you pull a trigger, you are on a FOB.

• Bonus tip: If "Trigger" is your horse, you are on a Dude Range.

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WATER POINTS

• If drinking water is plentifully supplied in plastic bottles, you could be on either a Dude Ranch or a FOB ...

• If the plastic bottles are re-supplied daily by Housekeeping to your room's refrigerator, you are on a Dude Ranch.

• If the plastic bottles are stored in bulk and located under a plywood lean-to near a corner of your building's exterior, you are on a FOB.

• Bonus tip: If there is an ice machine where those bulk plastic water bottles would be located on a FOB, you are on a Dude Ranch.

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FRIENDLY SKIES

• If there are A-10s flying overhead, you could be on either a Dude Ranch or a FOB ...

• If the A-10s sound friendly and outgoing, you are on a Dude Ranch.

• If the A-10s sound angry, you are on a FOB.